March 7
Events * 161 - Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius dies and is succeeded by co-Emperors Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus, an unprecedented political arrangement in the Roman Empire. * 321 - Roman Emperor Constantine I decrees that the dies Solis Invicti (sun-day) is the day of rest in the Empire. *1277 - Condemnation of 219 philosophical and theological theses by Stephen Tempier, Bishop of Paris. *1798 - The French army enters Rome: the birth of the Roman Republic. *1799 - Napoleon I of France captures Jaffa in Palestine and his troops proceed to kill more than 2,000 Albanian captives. *1799 - The Royal Institution is founded. *1814 - Napoleon I of France wins the Battle of Craonne. *1815 - Napoleon I of France meets troops of the Fifth Regiment sent by Louis XVIII at Grenoble, and convinces them to join him on his march to Paris. *1827 - Brazil marines sail up the Rio Negro and attack the temporary naval base of Carmen de Patagones, Argentina. They are defeated by the local citizens. * 1827 - Shrigley Abduction: Ellen Turner, a wealthy heiress in Cheshire, England is abducted by Edward Gibbon Wakefield, a future politician in colonial New Zealand. *1848 - The Great mahele (land division) is signed in Hawaii. *1850 - United States Senator Daniel Webster gives his "Seventh of March" speech in which he endorses the Compromise of 1850 in order to prevent a possible civil war. *1862 - American Civil War: Battle of Pea Ridge - Union forces led by General Samuel Curtis defeat Confederate troops under General Earl Van Dorn at Pea Ridge in northwestern Arkansas. *1876 - Alexander Graham Bell is granted a patent for an invention he calls the telephone (patent # 174,465). *1911 - Revolution in Mexico. *1912 - Roald Amundsen first announces to the world that his expedition has reached the South Pole, though they had arrived on December 14, 1911. *1914 - Prince William of Wied arrives in Albania to begin his reign. *1918 - World War I: Finland forms an alliance with Germany. *1936 - World War II: In violation of the Locarno Pact and the Treaty of Versailles, Germany reoccupies the Rhineland. *1945 - World War II: American troops seize the Ludendorff Bridge over the Rhine River at Remagen, establish a bridgehead on Germany soil and in desperate fighting begin to establish a lodgement, which events shakes up the whole Western Front and greatly hastens the end of WW-II. *1947 - The Kuomintang and Communist Party of China resume full-fledged Civil War. *1948 - The Dodecanese islands officially become part of Greece again, ending the Italian rule. *1950 - Cold War: The Soviet Union issues a statement denying that Klaus Fuchs served as a Soviet spy. *1951 - Korean War: Operation Ripper - In Korea, United Nations troops led by General Matthew Ridgeway begin an assault against Chinese forces. *1965 - In Selma, State troopers and local law enforcement forcefully break up a group of 600 civil rights marchers. The event was televised and was dubbed Bloody Sunday. *1969 - Golda Meir elected as the first female Prime Minister of Israel. *1988 - Colombia becomes a member of the Berne Convention copyright treaty. *1989 - Iran and the United Kingdom break diplomatic relations after a row over Salman Rushdie and his controversial novel. * 1989 - The State Council of the People's Republic of China declares martial law in Lhasa, Tibet. *1994 - The Supreme Court of the United States rules in ''Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music''that parodies of an original work are generally covered by the doctrine of fair use. *1996 - The first democratically elected Palestinian parliament is formed. *2004 - New Democracy wins the national elections in Greece. *2005 - Mass protest outside the National Assembly of Kuwait building for women's voting rights in Kuwait. *2006 - Apple Inc. is granted the patent to the iPod. *2007 - British House of Commons votes to make the upper chamber, the House of Lords, 100% elected. Births * 189 - Publius Septimius Geta, Roman Emperor (d. 211) *1481 - Baldassare Peruzzi, Italian architect and painter (d. 1537) *1556 - Guillaume du Vair, French writer (d. 1621) *1671 - Robert Roy MacGregor, Scottish folk hero (d. 1734) *1678 - Filippo Juvara, Italian architect (d. 1736) *1687 - Jean Lebeuf, French historian (d. 1760) *1693 - Pope Clement XIII (d. 1769) *1715 - Ewald Christian von Kleist, German poet (d. 1759) * 1715 - Ephraim Williams, American philanthropist (d. 1755) *1730 - Baron de Breteuil, French statesman (d. 1807) *1765 - Nicéphore Niépce, French inventor of photography (d. 1833) *1785 - Alessandro Manzoni, Italian writer (d. 1873) *1788 - Antoine César Becquerel, French physicist (d. 1878) *1792 - John Herschel, English mathematician and astronomer (d. 1871) *1837 - Henry Draper, American physician and astronomer (d. 1882) *1841 - William Rockhill Nelson, founder of Kansas City Star and patron of Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art (d. 1915) *1850 - Champ Clark, American politician (d. 1921) * 1850 - Tomáš Masaryk, first President of Czechoslovakia (d. 1937) *1857 - Julius Wagner-Jauregg, Austrian neuroscientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1940) *1872 - Piet Mondrian, Dutch painter (d. 1944) *1873 - Madame Sul-Te-Wan, American actress (d. 1959) *1875 - Maurice Ravel, French composer (d. 1937) *1878 - Boris Kustodiev, Russian painter (d. 1927) *1887 - Heino Eller, Estonian composer (d. 1970) *1888 - Alidius Warmoldus Lambertus Tjarda van Starkenborgh Stachouwer, Dutch lawyer and politician (d. 1978) *1902 - Heinz Rühmann, German actor (d. 1994) *1904 - Ivar Ballangrud, Norwegian speed skater (d. 1969) * 1904 - Reinhard Heydrich, Nazi official (d. 1942) *1908 - Anna Magnani, Italian actress (d. 1973) *1915 - Jacques Chaban-Delmas, French politician (d. 2000) *1917 - Lee Young, American jazz drummer and singer *1922 - Olga Aleksandrovna Ladyzhenskaya, Russian mathematician (d. 2004) *1925 - Rene Gagnon, US Marine shown in photograph of the raising of the US flag on Iwo Jima (d. 1979) *1927 - James Broderick, American actor (d. 1982) * 1927 - Jean-Paul Desbiens, Quebec writer and teacher (d. 2006) *1930 - Antony Armstrong-Jones, Lord Snowdon *1933 - Jackie Blanchflower, Northern Irish footballer (d. 1998) *1934 - Willard Scott, American television broadcaster * 1934 - Giorgos Katsaros, Greek musician and composer *1938 - David Baltimore, American biologist, Nobel laureate * 1938 - Janet Guthrie, American race car driver *1940 - Rudi Dutschke, German student leader (d. 1979) * 1940 - Daniel J. Travanti, American actor *1942 - Tammy Faye Bakker, American televangelist (d. 2007) * 1942 - Michael Eisner, American film studio executive * 1942 - Charles R. Boutin, American politician *1943 - Chris White, British musician (The Zombies) *1944 - Stanley Schmidt, American editor * 1944 - Townes Van Zandt, American musician and songwriter (1997) *1945 - John Heard, American actor * 1945 - Arthur Lee, American musician (Love) (d. 2006) *1946 - Matthew Fisher, British musician (Procol Harum) * 1946 - Peter Wolf, American musician (J Geils Band) *1947 - Richard Lawson, American actor * 1947 - Walter Röhrl, German race car driver * 1947 - Helen Eadie, Scottish politician *1949 - Ghulam Nabi Azad, Indian politician *1950 - Iris Chacon, Puerto Rican singer and dancer * 1950 - Franco Harris, American football player *1951 - Francis Rocco Prestia, American musician (Tower of Power) *1952 - Ernie Isley, American musician(The Isley Brothers) * 1952 - Viv Richards, Antiguan West Indies cricketer * 1952 - Lynn Swann, American football player *1955 - Tommy Kramer, American football player *1956 - Bryan Cranston, American actor *1957 - Robert Harris, English TV reporter and journalist *1958 - Alan Hale, American astronomer * 1958 - Rik Mayall, British actor * 1960 - Ivan Lendl, Czech tennis player *1962 - Taylor Dayne, American singer *1963 - Bill Brochtrup, American actor * 1963 - Denyce Graves, American singer *1964 - Bret Easton Ellis, American writer * 1964 - Wanda Sykes, American actress and comedian *1965 - Jack Armstrong, American baseball player * 1965 - Steve Beuerlein, American football player * 1965 - Jesper Parnevik, Swedish golfer *1968 - Jeff Kent, American baseball player *1969 - Hideki Noda, Japanese racing driver * 1969 - Shin Ae Ra, Korean actress and radio DJ *1971 - Rachel Weisz, British actress * 1971 - Peter Sarsgaard, American actor *1972 - Jang Dong-gun, South Korean actor and musician * 1972 - Maxim Roy, Quebec actress *1973 - Ray Parlour, English footballer * 1973 - Sébastien Izambard, operatic pop singer (Il Divo) * 1973 - Jason Bright, Australian racing driver *1974 - Jenna Fischer, American actress *1976 - Chelsea Charms, American adult actress *1977 - Ronan O'Gara, Irish rugby player * 1977 - Mitja Zastrow, German-born swimmer *1980 - Laura Prepon, American actress * 1980 - Anthony Ocana, Dominican composer & guitarist *1981 - Bo Bice, American Idol Star and Cracker *1982 - Kate Michael, American beauty queen * 1982 - Erika Yamakawa, Japanese talent *1984 - Mathieu Flamini, French footballer *1985 - Thomas Erak, American guitarist *1986 - Ben Griffin, Australian footballer *1990 - Abigail and Brittany Hensel, American conjoined twins Deaths * 322 BC - Aristotle, Greek philosopher (b. 384 BC) * 161 - Antoninus Pius, Roman Emperor (b. 86) * 203 - Perpetua and Felicitas, Christian martyrs (perhaps after 209) * 308 - Saint Eubulus, Christian martyr * 851 - Nominoe, Duke of Brittany * 1226 - William de Longespee, English military leader * 1274 - Thomas Aquinas, Philosopher (b. 1225) * 1578 - Margaret Douglas, Countess of Lennox (b. 1515) * 1625 - Johann Bayer, German astronomer (b. 1572) * 1724 - Pope Innocent XIII (b. 1655) * 1767 - Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, French colonizer (b. 1680) * 1778 - Charles De Geer, Swedish industrialist (b. 1720) * 1810 - Cuthbert Collingwood, British admiral (b. 1750) * 1904 - Ferdinand André Fouqué, French geologist (b. 1828) * 1913 - Emily Pauline Johnson, Native Canadian poet * 1928 - Robert Abbe, American surgeon (b. 1851) *1932 - Aristide Briand, Nobel Peace Prize laureate (b. 1862) * 1938 - Andreas Michalakopoulos, Greek politician, Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1876) *1949 - Francis Dodd, English artist (b. 1874) *1952 - Paramahansa Yogananda, Indian guru (b. 1893) *1954 - Otto Diels, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1876) *1957 - Wyndham Lewis, British author (b. 1882) *1967 - Alice B. Toklas, American companion to Gertrude Stein (b. 1877) *1974 - Alberto Rabagliati, Italian singer and actor (b. 1906) *1975 - Mikhail Bakhtin, Russian philosopher (b. 1895) * 1975 - Ben Blue, Canadian actor (b. 1901) *1976 - Wright Patman, American politician (b. 1893) *1978 - Steve Bilko, Baseball player (b. 1928) *1981 - Kiril Kondrashin, Russian conductor (b. 1914) *1983 - Igor Markevitch, Ukrainian conductor and composer (b. 1912) *1984 - Paul Rotha, English director (b. 1907) *1986 - Jacob Javits, American politician (b. 1904) *1988 - Divine, American actor (b. 1945) *1991 - Cool Papa Bell, baseball player, (b. 1903) *1995 - Paul-Émile Victor, French explorer (b. 1907) *1997 - E. H. Bronner, German-American soap magnate (b. 1908) *1997 - Edward Mills Purcell, Nobel laureate (b. 1912) *1999 - Sidney Gottlieb, American CIA official (b. 1918) * 1999 - Stanley Kubrick, American film director (b. 1928) *2000 - Charles Gray, British actor (b. 1928) *2001 - Frankie Carle, American pianist and bandleader (b. 1903) *2004 - Paul Winfield, American actor (b. 1941) *2005 - John Box, British film production designer and art director (b. 1920) * 2005 - Debra Hill, American screenwriter and film producer (b. 1950) *2006 - Ali Farka Touré Malian musician (b. 1939) * 2006 - Gordon Parks, photographer (b. 1912) * 2006 - John Junkin, British performer (b. 1930) Holidays and observances *Albania — Teacher's Day Liturgical feasts * Catholicism — Feast day of Saints Perpetua and Felicitas, patron saint of married women External links * BBC: On This Day * * On This Day in Canada ---- March 07